Monotonic and cyclic behaviour of 6082-T6 aluminium alloy

Over the last few decades, the application of 6000 series aluminium alloys as structural material has been increased owing to their favourable properties. Many research studies on the monotonic behaviour have been reported, whilst the studies investigating the cyclic behaviour are quite limited. To address this gap, an experimental campaign is currently underway to investigate the nonlinear stress-strain behaviour of 6000 series aluminium alloys. This paper presents and discusses preliminary experimental results on the stress-strain behaviour of 6082-T6 aluminium alloy under monotonic and cyclic loading. Particularly, tensile, and variable amplitude cyclic coupon tests are executed to determine the mechanical properties of 6082-T6 aluminium alloy. The obtained failure modes as well as the monotonic and hysteretic curves are presented and discussed. It was found that at increased strain demands the examined aluminium alloy exhibited hardening behaviour without material degradation demonstrating its potential for structural application in earthquake prone areas. The experimental curves are also utilised to assess the accuracy of existing theoretical models for monotonic and cyclic envelope curves. Finally, the need for a constitutive model capable of predicting the hysteretic behaviour of 6,000 series aluminium alloys is highlighted.